Lens Board spacers for big honkin' Petzval lenses?

[Jay Decker]

Recently acquired a number of large Petzval lenses that have fixed lens barrels that extend behind the mounting flange a 2 to 3 inches. In order to use these lenses with my existing cameras that have Packard shutters mounted in them, I need to attach a ~2-inch spacer on the lens board that the mounting flange for the Petzval lens can be attached to.

Has anyone done this before? What did you use for a spacer? How did you attach the spacer to the lens board and the mounting flange to the spacer?

Thanks,

Jay

[cowanw]

On my Cambo I use an aluminum ring bolted from the inside of the 6" lens board, to which the mounting flange is bolted on the outside. Often the raised Cambo logo has to be ground off. This works for up to a 5" or so back lens diameter. I am sure any opaque material could be used.
Regards
Bill

[Jay Decker]

On my Cambo I use an aluminum ring bolted from the inside of the 6" lens board, to which the mounting flange is bolted on the outside. Often the raised Cambo logo has to be ground off. This works for up to a 5" or so back lens diameter. I am sure any opaque material could be used.
Regards
Bill

Thanks for responding Bill. Are you turning your aluminum rings?

[cowanw]

I have a friend who does these things for me, a medical instrument machinist. He does my missing mounting rings and various other gadjets. The largest lens I have on Cambo is the 18" Verito.
What kind of lens board are you talking about?
Regards
Bill

[Jay Decker]

I have a friend who does these things for me, a medical instrument machinist. He does my missing mounting rings and various other gadjets. The largest lens I have on Cambo is the 18" Verito.
What kind of lens board are you talking about?
Regards
Bill

6-inch or 9-inch square wood lens boards.

[cowanw]

You can easily do this with wood bored out to as large a size as can be seen through to the lens from the corners of your ground glass, and cut to size just smaller than your front mounting hardware on the camera. Screw your board to this and your mounting ring to the other side. Paint the inside black and away you go.
One early attempt like this, had me making the extension hole the same size as the back lens but the depth of the ring obstructed the view from the corners at the back of the camera and created vignetting. I had to cone out the center of the ring towards the back to account for the spread of light coming out of the lens wide open. This was of course much less of a problem at f8 or smaller.
regards
Bill

[SteveKarr]

Hi,
I just got a 11.5" Verito mounted in a custom 4" raised flange here in Phoenix of all places. The job was done my a machinist / camera repair fellow named Joe at Tempe Camera.

Joe is a great guy, owner & repair God. He did it for $100 in 3 days, with a smile. I have paid much more & waited longer for lesser work.

Highly recommended ...

http://www.tempecamera.biz

[SteveKarr]

Hi,
I just got a 11.5" Verito mounted in a custom 4" raised flange here in Phoenix of all places. The job was done my a machinist / camera repair fellow named Joe at Tempe Camera.

Joe is a great guy, owner & repair God. He did it for $100 in 3 days, with a smile. I have paid much more & waited longer for lesser work.

Highly recommended ...

http://www.tempecamera.biz

[eddie]

remount the packard shutters on a board for the individual lenses. this is how it was done "in the day". build spacer box behind the lens board. i just removed one off the back of a lens board the other day and can not find it right now. it was like 3-4 inches deep. but anyway it is a box just like the one below. you just make it as deep as you need it.

or you can do exactly the same thing on the front of the board. and add another lens board in front of the existing one with the spacers built in....like a top hat. the problem with this technique is that if you are using a century studio camera you will not be able to use lenses that are shorter than about 14 inches as you will be unable to squeeze the bellows closed enough. i have a hard time using my 14 inch lens already on my studio camera.

eddie

[Jay Decker]

The two lenses in the foreground of the photos below are a couple of the lens that I want to remount onto 6x6 lens boards. The lenses are currently mounted on 9-inch lens boards as shown on in the bottom photo.

What I want to do is 1) remount the lenses on to 6x6 lens boards that I can use them on my 8x10 Kodak 2D, 2) put extensions on the front of the 6x6 lens boards so that I can use the remounted lens on my 8x10 Kodak 2D with the Packard shutter mounted permanently in the camera, 3) find or build a 6x6 to 9x9 adapter lens board that I can use these lens on my studio camera without remounting them on 9x9 boards.

Thus far I have had three great suggestions:

- have some extension pieces fabricated (like piping spools),
- find some plastic pipe fittings to glue together piping spools that can be screwed to the lens board and the to the mounting flange, and
- build boxes on the lens boards for the extension.

I'm looking for ideas that are simple, secure, easy to implement, not too costly (need to do this for multiple lenses), and don't look like a strap-on on the front of my camera - yes, camera aesthetics do matter when you take portraits. Any other ideas?


http://monkeytumble.com/tmp/dall1.jpg


http://monkeytumble.com/tmp/dall2.jpg

[cowanw]

I used 2x6's cut to 5.5 inches and bored out to size. You need however many you need to achieve the thickness of you longest measurement from flange to back lens.
and bolted and/or glued together.
But I have found with my 2D that the front can not hold up these large lenses cantilevered out in front. The rise is under too much weight; the lenses slide down to rest on the bed. And I worry about the strength of the screws holding the sliding brass board holder on the camera.
My solution was to have a series of wood pieces of different thicknesses (dyed and laquered to match) to sit on the rails and rest the lens on at the level of it's flange at the level of rise that I want.
Regards
Bill

[jb7]

I haven't mounted big lenses-
although I have built a mount for a Suter Aplanat, a B No.6, it's not that heavy-

However, the strategy I used was to recess a board, so that the slot for the stops was just accessible,
but with some of the lens inside the camera, and the Packard behind that.

It balances better, and eliminates the cantilever.

It is excessive on my camera,
but if I ever get a heavier lens, I'll use the same method.

As far as the aesthetics are concerned, everything is hidden inside the camera,
and the front doesn't look overbalanced...
so, not bad looking-

[Jay Decker]

But I have found with my 2D that the front can not hold up these large lenses cantilevered out in front. The rise is under too much weight; the lenses slide down to rest on the bed. And I worry about the strength of the screws holding the sliding brass board holder on the camera.
My solution was to have a series of wood pieces of different thicknesses (dyed and laquered to match) to sit on the rails and rest the lens on at the level of it's flange at the level of rise that I want.

Good point and a good solution! Thank you.



... However, the strategy I used was to recess a board, so that the slot for the stops was just accessible, but with some of the lens inside the camera, and the Packard behind that.

It balances better, and eliminates the cantilever.

Thinking about it I could make it so that the Packard shutter is attached to the rear of the recess box with a temporary fastener, e.g., Velcro... hmmm (see light bulb appearing above my head).



As far as the aesthetics are concerned, everything is hidden inside the camera, and the front doesn't look overbalanced... so, not bad looking-

That is a good point also... thank you!

[Jay Decker]

Spent a little quality time with the router this weekend butchering some wood. I don't pretend to know if this is the right way to make lensboard spacers, but here's how I went about it for one frame of reference. These spacers keep the rear bezel in front of the Packard Shutter mounted in my 8x10 Kodak 2-D.

Been thinking about covering the spacers with leather after laminating them together to make them look purdy.

http://www.monkeytumble.com/tmp/spacer1.jpg


http://www.monkeytumble.com/tmp/spacer2.jpg


http://www.monkeytumble.com/tmp/spacer3.jpg


http://www.monkeytumble.com/tmp/spacer4.jpg

[Chauncey Walden]

Jay, I can definitely see that it was a mistake for you to get together with Jim Galli!

[Jay Decker]

Jay, I can definitely see that it was a mistake for you to get together with Jim Galli!

That's a polite understatement. I think I left Tonopah singing "Every lens is beautiful in in its own way..." Oh well, like the great American humorist Will Rogers said, "I never met an aberration that I didn't like", ummm... I think that's right.

[Pete Roody]

For a do-it-yourself solution, you could bolt a plastic pipe flange fitting to the front of the lens board. The link shows a flange that has a 4.5-in inside hole diameter and 7-in. outside diameter. You could use adhesive blackout (light trap) material on the inside surface of the pipe section. You would have to devise a way to secure the barrel flange to the end of the fitting.

flange:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#2389k89/=6bsos6

blackout material:

http://www.fpi-protostar.com/flock.htm

[Louis Pacilla]

check this out.

1.) 480mm f4.5 Heliar sunken mount

2.) Hugo Meyers & Co. Goertlitz 16" f3 Petzval Portrait lens. The 16 1/2 " dagor in large Compound shutter for scale.

[goamules]

Jay, there are many ways to skin a cat. I have a 1920s Seneca Improved with it's original board and it has a wooden cylinder/flange mounted on the outside just like you did, to clear the packard. It was painted black.

[Dirk Rösler]

Similar solution here... The screws go all the way through, no glue involved.

[Jay Decker]

For a do-it-yourself solution, you could bolt a plastic pipe flange fitting to the front of the lens board. The link shows a flange that has a 4.5-in inside hole diameter and 7-in. outside diameter. You could use adhesive blackout (light trap) material on the inside surface of the pipe section. You would have to devise a way to secure the barrel flange to the end of the fitting.

Pete - looked long and hard to a the pipe fitting solution. It will product an effective solution and can be quickly implemented by the mechanically inclined.

I have to admit that my decision to build the wood tubes was partially aesthetic. I think that they will be look pretty good covered in leather.


Similar solution here... The screws go all the way through, no glue involved.

Dirk - your solution is probably the most practical for the guys with access to basic wooding skills. It would have been a lot quicker to implement than the wood tube construction project that I took on.

[Dirk Rösler]

Yours looks more elegant of course. I had the wood cut in the store and the center hole by a carpenter friend. Simple and safe.

[Jay Decker]

Been finishing up the spacers. Here what they look like all done...


http://monkeytumble.com/tmp/spacerb.jpg

http://monkeytumble.com/tmp/spacera.jpg

[Dirk Rösler]

Great job! Now start shooting with them :)